Obituary

JOHN MADIN 1924 - 2012

I hope to see in the near future a greater
and a more beautiful Birmingham, and I also wish that I shall be one of those
lucky men who will, with care and sympathy, be able to graft our City into
the finest in the World. If this war has ever done anything for the British
people, it has given the enlightened ones of the generation the chance to
create a better and healthier place to live in. The German bombs have stricken
down so many of our towns’ buildings that it will be a simple matter to widen
our thorough fares and build new offices and shops.

Extract from “The Future of Birmingham”, by
John Madin aged 1617 December 1940

John Madin’s teenage vision for Birmingham was not realized for its city centre,
despite his subsequent strong advocacy for a three-dimensional master plan
for the area within the future inner ring road. Nonetheless, his own contribution
to Birmingham’s recovery in the aftermath of the war was significant and positive.
In particular, Madin was responsible for the master plan for the redevelopment
of the 1625 acre Calthorpe Estate (1958) just to the west of the city centre
and much of its subsequent implementation, and buildings within the city, such
as the Chamber of Commerce, the Central Library, BBC Pebble Mill and the Warwickshire
Masonic Temple.

Madin’s work, however, extended far beyond the bounds of Birmingham, including
projects as diverse and far afield as the master plan for Telford new town,
the Yorkshire Post and Mail Building, the radio and television complex (in
association with Marconi) in Zagreb, and the Wardija Hill Top Village in Malta.

Madin embraced Modernism at the Birmingham School of Architecture on returning
from war service in 1947. He visited Stockholm in 1949. Functionalism had been
the dominant architectural style in Sweden since its capital’s exhibition of
1930; Stockholm was also at the forefront of town planning. These factors,
combined with the fact that the city was a huge contrast to his war ravaged
home town, inspired Madin and helped to crystallize his vision for Birmingham,
illustrated in his 1951 Christmas card, which included two sketches: one of
Birmingham as he saw it then, the other as he thought it should be.

Madin believed
buildings should have an appearance of ‘simplicity and sincerity’, the design
of a building evolving from a full understanding of the brief, particularly
through its planning. He gave high importance to a building’s relationship
with its natural surroundings, the linking of indoors and outside, the use
of moving water, honestly expressing materials and careful detailing. Madin
designed modernist-style fittings and furnishings, including carpets, curtains,
furniture door handles and even cutlery to complement his buildings, and also
commissioned and integrated work by well-known artists of the day. Madin worked
within the constraints of the labour force of the time. The lack of skilled
bricklayers in the 1950s, for example, led him to use concrete frames for non-domestic
buildings, cladding them with marble, granite or mosaic finished panels, which
also provided a self cleansing surface to accommodate the severe pollution
of the time. He embraced new technology with component companies, particularly
the glazing manufacturer Henry Hope, and was also innovative in the ways he
found to minimise the impact of the car. From a base in his parent’s study
in 1950, Madin’s practice grew by the mid-sixties into one of the largest multi-disciplinary
practices in the country, with a broad-based workload divided between the public
and the private sector, and between specialised one-off buildings and town
planning work. Madin’s energy, enthusiasm and the trust clients had in him
were essential ingredients to his success. He was able to look beyond the client’s
initial brief at the bigger picture, and was skilled at getting landowners,
users, tenants and investors to work together creatively.

Though Madin is currently being primarily remembered for the Birmingham Central
Library, hopefully in viewing the 132 page e-book “John Madin Architect + Planner
– An illustrated Record” that can be downloaded from this website’s home
page, the reader will really appreciate the breath and sustained quality
of his work. He remained focused on architecture and what he would
be doing next on his on-going project in Aberdovey (Aberdyfi), right up until
11.30pm on the 8th January 2012.

Any memories and reflections on John Madin and his work would be welcome,
please use the contact page of this website to do so, thank you.

Christopher Madin

Slides of John Madin’s work (for browsers without javascript)

John Madin’s Christmas Card 1951 – As he saw Birmingham then and how he thought it should be